Leading members of Sudan’s opposition die in car crash

KHARTOUM, Oct 27 (AFP) — The deputy chairman of Sudan’s opposition Umma Party, Omar Nour ed-Daem, and a senior colleague from the organization’s religious wing have died in a road accident, state radio reported Monday.

Daem, 70, and Sheikh Abdallah Ishaq, a senior official from the Ansar, died late Sunday when their car crashed into a parked truck near Jebel Awlia, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Khartoum, it said.

Sheikh Abdullah was driving the vehicle in which two other colleagues were injured, the radio added.

They were returning from Kosti, a White Nile town about 300 kilometers (180 miles) south of the capital, where they went to pay their respects on the death of a former Umma MP.

Sudanese President Omar el-Beshir’s office said Daem’s death was “a loss” to the nation, while Umma leader, Sadeq al-Mahdi, returned home overnight from Cairo to attend the funeral, a senior party official told AFP.

The presidential tribute to Daem recalled a man who had “served his country and his people in several positions and assumed the portfolios of agriculture and finance.”

First Vice President Ali Osman Taha, upon his return late Sunday from peace negotiations in Kenya, drove to the house of the deceased to pay his condolences, media reports said.

Umma’s deputy secretary general, Abdel Rahman al-Ghali, said the funeral for the pair would be held later Monday. The two are to be buried at Mahdi’s Dome in Omdurman, across the river from Khartoum.